Completed by the factory in late 1971, chassis number 15007 falls approximately midway through Ferrari’s production run of the vaunted 365 GTB/4 Spider. A model originally envisioned and designed for the American market, this is where this particular car would be destined, finished in Rosso Chiaro (20-R-190) over a Nero (VM 8500) Connolly interior with red seat inserts. The car was earmarked for delivery to William F. Harrah’s Ferrari distributorship, Modern Classic Motors of Reno, Nevada, and arrived there sporting Italian EE (Escursionisti Esteri) tourist delivery plates in April 1972 according to a report compiled by Ferrari historian Marcel Massini.
Rather than being delivered to its first owner immediately upon delivery, the Daytona Spider was shown by Modern Classic Motors at the 1972 Los Angeles Auto Show in May 1972. Subsequently, it was sold to its first owner, Robert Ferrard of Los Angeles that same year. Three years later, the car was sold to Warner Brothers Pictures by Harley Cluxton III’s Grand Touring Cars of Phoenix, Arizona, in October 1975, showing 19,863 miles on its odometer at the time of sale.
Warner Brothers released two films in 1976 that this car is believed to have had a starring role in: A Star is Born and The Gumball Rally. Both films featured a red Daytona Spider, with the car in A Star is Born fitted with a black interior and seats with headrests, and The Gumball Rally car sporting a beige interior with early-style Daytona seats without headrests. It is known that another Daytona Spider was used in the filming of The Gumball Rally (chassis number 14829) whilst another car was also used in the filming of A Star is Born, however this car’s identity remains unknown. Presently, this car is outfitted with a beige interior, as it would have appeared in The Gumball Rally.
After leaving Warner Brothers, the Daytona Spider passed through a handful of subsequent California owners in the 1970s and early 1980s before being purchased by Robert D. Toney, a teacher of construction at Merced College in Merced, California. At the time of his purchase, the car was noted as being fitted with a tan interior with black Daytona seat inserts, as it would have appeared in The Gumball Rally.
Toney was a longtime member of the Ferrari Club of America and a regular attendee of club events until his passing in 2002. Despite this, Toney only showed his Daytona Spider twice; first at the Ferrari Club of America Annual Meet at Monterey in 1994, and again at the Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance in 1997. Toney passed away in 2002 but the car would be kept by his family until 2017, at which point it was consigned to RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction. At that point, the car was sold to a well-known collector based in the United Kingdom. That same year, the car was granted Ferrari Classiche certification, confirming that the car retains its original chassis, engine, and bodywork, and is fitted with a replacement gearbox of the correct type. In 2018, the car received a full service at Joe Macari in London which also included adding a number of upgrades for overall drivability, including an upgraded aluminum radiator, suspension, sports exhaust, starter motor, and alternator, along with new Avon tires. This work totaled £48,019.68 and the invoices for this work can be found in the car’s history file. Later, the car would receive a professional repaint from Charles Pozzi, the official Ferrari distributor in Paris, France. Remaining in Europe until 2024, upon its purchase by the consignor, the car was repatriated to the United States shortly thereafter.
Boasting a fascinating story involving thirty-four years of single ownership following ownership and usage by Warner Brothers in two highly memorable movies of the mid-1970s, this is a fabulous Daytona Spider that would be an exciting addition to any collection.
